THE ARTISTIC LIFE – Living the creative life in everything we do

Posts tagged ‘ultrasound’

So, I’m here today to vent….I guess a blog is as good a place for that as any… Venting wasn’t my intention when I started this ‘artistic living’ blog, but I guess it’s just one of those unexpected twists that are part of life. It does affect how ‘artistic’ I’ve been feeling for the last couple of weeks and it certainly affects ‘living’. So I deem it appropo.

Without any symptoms or expectation of anything wrong, during a routine checkup, my doc found a lump on my thyroid. A bloodtest, a camera stuck down my nose/throat, and now an ultrasound has revealed two medium-sized lumps with some (not all) suspicious characteristics on the thyroid. Well, before two weeks ago, I knew virtually nothing about the thyroid, except that it’s an endocrine gland in the neck area and that it can help control weight, if functioning well. Well, now, medical terms such as isoechoic, nodule, hypoechoic, calcification, and thyroidectomy are part of my common vocabulary. The Internet can be both a helpful and a scary place, especially if someone has been suddenly diagnosed with a disorder. It is beneficial to be informed when undergoing healthcare and medical procedures, however, too much info can be overwhelming and detrimental, I am finding. Studying other people’s ultrasound images isn’t going to help me (unless I change career paths and decide to become a radiologist!) and hearing every possible percentage risk associated with every term is getting to be too much. I’ve been told that chances are still decent that the condition is benign. But anytime one considers the possibility of the ‘C’ word is even 10-25% likely, that’s all one focuses on. I think I’ve been informed to the extent that I know what my course of action should be, but I need to keep maintaining a normal life, until the day I possibly have to go in for surgery.

Next step: Ultrasound guided Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA) Biopsy. I’m starting to experience the frustrations of the modern medical system – Make appointment. Wait. Find out small amount of info. Wait. Make another appointment. Wait. Find out small amount of info. Wait. Wait. Wait. So now I’m waiting to hear when my FNA will be. Then I will wait for the procedure to be done. Then I will wait for results. Then I will wait for appointment to find out results. You get the picture.

So now I plan to spend a weekend off the Internet and enjoy the more artistic side of life. Thanks for letting me vent.